The fresh start effect means that now is a great time to take on new challenges or lean forward with a new outlook.  One of mine for the new year is that we fundraisers are in the business of saving lives.

Sure, we know that important missions would go unfunded without our fundraising.  But I’m talking about an even more direct impact.

Consider the evidence:

• The more people spend to help others, the lower their blood pressure is. This even works when people are assigned to spend on others rather than doing it voluntarily.
• Likewise, giving increases your happiness, whether you do it voluntarily or not. This is true across 120 different countries.  And happiness leads to lower mortality.
• Charitable giving is correlated with better overall health and specifically is related to lower risks of high blood pressure, arthritis, and lung disease.
• Feeling a greater connectedness to others increases immunoglobulin, which decreases illness
• Giving eliminates the negative impact of stress on health. Stress is an excellent predictor of mortality for those who don’t give, but not predictive for those who do give.

That’s the positive side – you can also see the dark side of our power when people complain of the way they are treated by charities.  The most public example of this was the tragic death of Olive Cooke in the UK in 2015.  Media reports after her death talked about her 27 direct debits and 260 appeals per month and her feelings of being overwhelmed.

If giving alone were the answer, Olive Cooke would have had a chance at being the world’s first 200-year-old women.  But there are other factors in how we ask that can turn our warm glow into a cold stare.

In short, we are gifted and burdened with great purpose and power.  We are stewards of not just our donors’ dollars, but their happiness.

So how can we increase this happiness?  A few thoughts:

• Giving donors control of their communications can mitigate or eliminate the pain they feel from being solicited or oversolicited.
• Decreasing the social distance between giver and recipient isn’t just good fundraising; it’s good for the giver. People get more happiness benefit when they give to a stronger social tie.  While this study looks at people you are close enough to spend tie with, we know people are more likely to give and more joyful in the giving when they have perceived shared characteristics with the person to whom they are giving.
• Provide a concrete impact. Telling someone that their $10 goes to buy a bed net to stop malaria increases both giving and happiness versus that $10 going to a general child health fund.

None of these are revolutionary.  All are just good fundraising practice.  This shouldn’t be too surprising, as promoting happiness in giving is a virtuous circle: giving increases happiness, which increases giving.  In fact, people are more likely to give when they reflect on their past giving rather than when they reflect on their past receiving.

But it’s important to start a new year from basic principles.  You could do far worse than to consider solely what each of your decisions would mean for net donor happiness.

Nick